


Stop the bees from buzzing

by Mystrothedefender



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:42:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23527069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystrothedefender/pseuds/Mystrothedefender
Summary: Batman checks on the inmates of Arkham, and tries to help Joker out.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Stop the bees from buzzing

Batman trudged through the halls of Arkham. He’d just dropped off Riddler in his usual room after three weeks of tracking him. In those three weeks he had barely slept, he was so exhausted, his legs felt like they were made of lead, his eyes were burning, he was looking forward to sleeping for two days straight.

He looked into each cell as he passed them, the guards would probably think he were doing it to be intimidating, but no, he was checking on the inmates, looking for any obvious injuries or signs of foul play on Arkham’s part.

He did care about them, he knew no one thought so, the Arkham guards thought he was on their side, the inmates thought so too, that simply wasn’t true. Many of these inmates were once his friends. He loved them.

He paused outside Harvey’s room, looking in and letting out a soft sigh.

“Twoface is in one of his moods,” the guard outside his room said, “I wouldn’t linger if I was you, don’t wanna know how mad he’ll get if he sees you.”

Batman felt his stomach twitch as the guard spoke. He wasn’t sure if he were telling the truth or not. Was Harvey really in a sour mood, or was the guard trying to cover something up. He had seen it go both ways in the past.

He stared the guard down, turning his eyes, after a moment, back to Harvey’s room.

He could barely see him, but he could hear him muttering angrily to himself.

He would come back in tomorrow, after he’d slept, as Bruce Wayne, and check up on him.

Harvey always cheered up after Bruce came to see him, and if they wouldn’t let him see him then he’d know they were lying and something was wrong.

He continued down the hall.

Jervis seemed fine, it seemed he’d been gifted another rabbit doll, which indicated good behaviour and progress. That was good to see.

Next up was Joker’s room.

Passing Joker’s room always made him a little anxious, too many times had he come to check on him only to find that he wasn’t there.

His eyes scoured the room, relief filling him as he noticed the shape of him lying in his bed.

“Has he been doing well?” Batman asked.

The guard shrugged, shaking his head, “Not really, they had to change his meds and he’s not reacting as the doctors had hoped.”

“What do you mean?” Batman asked, his eyes flicking from Joker to the guard.

The guard shrugged again, “I don’t think I’m meant to know, honestly. But, uh, his delusions have gotten worse. We had to strap him down earlier to stop him trying to escape.”

Batman frowned, letting out a soft growl, his eyes moving back to Joker, watching his chest rise and fall.

“Let me in,” Batman ordered, “I’d like to check on him myself.”

The guard sucked air in through his teeth, chewing his lip. “You know I’m not meant to do that, Batman…”

Batman huffed, “Let me in. I won’t hurt him. I just want to check on him.”

The guard shook his head weakly, letting out a breath of defeat, “Ok, but if anyone asks I’m going to tell them you threatened me.”

“Fine,” Batman nodded.

He waited as the guard opened the door, hoping that the buzz of the door wouldn’t wake Joker. He was a notoriously light sleeper, to the point that many people believed he didn’t sleep.

He walked through the door, waited for the guard to close it behind him, and then approached the bed.

Joker was laying fast asleep on the bed, hugging his pillow, his mouth lulled open.

He looked so peaceful and small.

It was almost calming to see him so subdued.

Batman leant down, running his fingers over the back of Joker’s hand to check for bruising from the straps, there was none. Then along his jaw and through his hair, checking his hand to see if any paint or dye had rubbed off on him. It hadn’t. It was really him.

He really was here and really was asleep. Whatever they’d given him had knocked him out, there was no way he’d stay asleep with him touching him like that under normal circumstances.

“Aw,” Joker said quietly from the bed, the noises making Batman tense a little. “So you do care.”

His voice was strained and cracking, he sounded as if he’d been asleep for a while.

“How are you?” Batman asked him, sitting at the foot of the bed.

Joker shook his head weakly, “The bees are annoying me,” he said.

“Bees?” Batman asked.

Joker nodded, closing his eyes again, “The buzzing.” He let out a soft whining hum, “Sounds like that.” He hummed again. “Gotta get away from it,” he growled.

Batman shook his head, “No, Joker, you have to stay here.”

“I don’t want to get stung. I _hate_ bees.”

“They won’t sting you,” Batman assured him. “Swarming bees don’t sting unless you upset them, so if you stay here they won’t hurt you.”

Joker let out a breath, nodding. “Ok,” he said, letting out a yawn, “I trust you.”

“Ok,” Batman nodded, he glanced out the window, there was a neon sign on the building opposite, advertising Arkham’s new cafe. That was probably what Joker could hear. “I’m going to see if I can stop the buzzing. You promise to stay here?”

Joker nodded, he turned in bed and looked up at him. “Give me a kiss and I will,” he smirked.

Batman let out a soft huff, “I can’t do that.”

Joker whined, “Why not?”

Batman frowned, gritting his teeth slightly. “I’ll make a deal with you, Joker. If you’re still here when I next visit then I’ll kiss you.”

Joker nodded, “Deal. Nice doing business with you.”

Batman nodded in return, “Ok. I’m going to go now.” He got to his feet, looking Joker over one last time before he left, leaning over to pull his blanket up over him, effectively tucking him in.

Joker shifted, cuddling in on himself, letting out a weak laugh. “Ok, ok. I’ll see you soon, babe.”

“See you soon,” Batman said softly as he walked to the door, giving a knock to notify the guard that he wanted to leave.

After a moment the door swung open, Batman glanced back one last time before leaving.

“You sure have a way with him,” the guard said, “None of us can get in there without him going nuts.”

Batman let out a soft grunt. “He knows me,” he explained, “We have a history.”

“Yeah? Most of that you’ve been trying to kill each other, we’ve never done a bad thing to him. Doesn’t make sense to me that he’d be so calm around you.”

Batman shrugged, “I can’t explain it more than that. I don’t know how his mind works any better than you.”

He wasn’t willing to discuss their relationship in depth with someone he didn’t even know the name of.

He made his way out of Arkham, checking every room as he passed, and then made his way behind the building, unplugging the neon sign.

He’d make a comment about it tomorrow, when he visited Harvey, get them to take it down.

Hopefully Joker would calm down now, they’d see an improvement in his mood, and he wouldn’t have to be restrained again.

**Author's Note:**

> *doot doot* lockdown is boring. come talk to me on tumblr! I'm mystrothedefender on there too.  
> Oh yeah before I forget: Batman and Joker are both trans in this story.


End file.
